Wonderful Tunes Provided By Friends. Wild Tangents Provided By Me.

Posts tagged ‘Pets’

“Too Young was written by Jimmy McHugh in 1955. It was quite a popular tune that was recorded by many of the top vocalists in the 50’s. In 1959 it also inspired a short lived TV sitcom with the same title. The John Coltrane Quartet version appears on the 1962 album “Ballads.” The vocal version of the song is fraught with 1950’s adolescent angst but I find the Trane version cool and soothing. Of course it could just be the suggestion of the images in the video I found. Judge for yourself!

My own sweet puppy love is a fuzzy white four legged girl called Eloise. She came home in ‘07 about six months after we lost our kitty Obsidian. I wasn’t completely convinced I was ready for a new pet at the time but we were feeling a bit lonesome for animal company so I figured it was at least time to start looking. So one Saturday I loaded my daughter into the car and we went to the pound to start our search for the right animal for our home. I didn’t take a leash or a pet carrier or anything because I KNEW we were just looking! We looked at the cats but comparison was inevitable so that didn’t work out. Then we looked at the dogs. A sweet mellow American Bulldog caught my eye so, on a lark, I asked if we could see her in the visiting room. They brought her in and my daughter immediately got on the floor and put her arms around the dog’s neck. The dog nuzzled her back. Then both of them looked up at me with soulful brown eyes. Then the heart string tugging reached Shirley Tempelian proportions when my girl asked “Mommy, can the doggie have a ‘doption just like me?” At that moment a million reasons why it’s a TERRIBLE idea to adopt a dog on impulse flew out the window. After a quick trip to the nearest PetSmart for supplies, Eloise came home with us that day and we’ve been a happy all girl trio ever since!

In 1963 Lee Morgan had just had a surprise hit with his rock and roll flavored instrumental “Sidewinder.” He assembled this all star cast to record his follow up “Tom Cat” in 1964. It’s a great album but none of the songs sound anything like “Sidewinder” so Morgan’s label Blue Note shelved it. The album wasn’t released until 1981. I only found one video on You Tube and luckily it’s my favorite song from the album. Here’s Lee Morgan with “Twilight Mist.”

I had a fabulous tom cat myself for years. He was black so his name was Obsidian, Sid for short. I used to call him the therapy cat. All of the foster kids who passed through my home can attest to the power of his mellow healing spirit. All that and he was self cleaning! I wish I could find a human male like that. The mellow spirit I mean, I wouldn’t want a guy who constantly licked himself… I think I’ll just end that thought there so we can maintain our PG-13 rating here on the jazz thread.